DETROIT — Before the game, during player introductions, they were just a grumble.

By the time he came up in the first, they were more emphatic.

By the time he was finally retired for the first time in 21 hours, they were downright lusty.

After he broke up another no-hitter in the ninth a night before, Detroit Tigers fans were in no mood to be nice to one of the best hitters in the American League, booing Minnesota Twins star Joe Mauer.

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His bat still made the biggest impact of the game, though, providing the one run that ended up as the margin of victory in a one-run, 3-2 win that snapped the Twins’ 10-game losing skid.

It also snapped a four-game win streak for the Tigers (27-20), who retained hold on first place, thanks to an Indians loss.

Joe Mauer, who broke up Friday night’s no-hit bid by Anibal Sanchez with one out in the ninth, greeted Doug Fister with a home run one out into the game Saturday. The ball took a funny bounce off the top of the right-field wall, necessitating an official review by the umpiring crew, but was upheld as a home run.

He would record three straight hits before finally being retired on a strikeout to end the seventh.

The Twins, who had been outscored an MLB-worst 52-18 in first innings this season, added two more runs against Fister, when Justin Morneau followed a walk with an RBI double, then scored on Chris Parmelee’s single.

Then Fister would settle in and — with the help of a pair of double plays — face just four over the minimum through the next six innings. He’d turn in his seventh quality start of the season, and the Tigers’ AL-leading 29th.

Luke Putkonen would get the Tigers through a scoreless eighth and, despite a walk and throwing error that could’ve been costly, Jose Ortega got the Tigers through a scoreless ninth.

But Twins closer Glen Perkins got Jhonny Peralta to pop out in foul territory before Brayan Pena reached on an infield hit, putting the tying run on base. Perkins got Omar Infante to fly out to right and Avisail Garcia to strike out.

In the end, though, it was just a lack of offense for the Tigers.

And that’s not a new problem.

When they score five or more runs, the Tigers are 22-4.

When they score four or less, they’re 5-15.

Pretty simple math.

The only rally the Tigers put together in the first four innings against Walters was with two outs in the second, when Pena singled and Infante doubled. Don Kelly followed with a walk, but Andy Dirks struck out to leave the bases loaded.

Dirks would start a two-out rally in the fifth with a single, then score from first on Torii Hunter’s double to deep center field.

Peralta would hit an opposite-field home run in the sixth to cut the deficit to one run, 3-2.

Short hops

Miguel Cabrera’s first-inning single extended his hit streak to 11 games. ... The sixth-inning homer was Peralta’s fifth of the season. Peralta got his fifth home run of last season on July 8. ... Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was ejected in the third inning for arguing an apparent interference call.

Matthew B. Mowery covers the Tigers for Digital First Media. Read his “Out of Left Field” blog at opoutofleftfield.blogspot.com.